


Bring Me Baaack To Life

by mortenavida



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, idk how to tag this, wakanda goats - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 11:40:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15795780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mortenavida/pseuds/mortenavida
Summary: I don't have a summary for this other than there are goats involved and Steve doesn't think Bucky came back from the snap??





	Bring Me Baaack To Life

**Author's Note:**

> I promise this isn't another Ash Dildo. Also this went nowhere, but whatever. For my Slack Fam.

They had done it - the war was over and (surprisingly), nobody had been killed. It was strange, watching people step out of a glowing orange portal. Sam had immediately pulled Steve into a hug, burying his head against Steve’s dirty uniform to hide his tears. Beside them, T’Challa was holding Shuri close as she cried herself. Natasha checked over Wanda, Tony beside them telling her all the ways they could definitely get Vision back. People not just lost to the dust were walking out, but those who were actively killed on the battlefield as well.  There were so many, they were so happy.

 

But there was no Bucky.

 

Steve stood on the damaged hill, staring at where the portal had been, and prayed. He no longer had his prayer beads, but the grooves on his new shield helped keep his hands busy as he begged God to not take Bucky from him. Not again.

 

In the end, it looked as though it didn’t matter. So Steve made his way to Bucky’s small hut near the goats, and cried. This wasn’t like the train, where he watched Bucky fall. This wasn’t even like when he willingly lay below him as the Soldier did his best to kill him. This was worse - there was no recovering from this.

 

Steve rubbed his beard and looked around the sparse hut, trying to imagine how things could have been. Would they have shared the hut until moving on to another place? Would they still be as close as they had been? Would Bucky wake up and panic with every couch Steve made even if they both knew he couldn’t get sick?

 

He would never know.  So Steve let the weariness of the battle take him and he finally slept, curled around a pillow that smelled like his best friend.

 

At first, he thought the sounds were just in his dreams. A weird _clink_ noise with some goat bleating between it. He just rolled over on the bed, mind foggy and still wrapped up in rest.  But then it came again, closer and inside the hut. Steve opened his eyes and stared at the wall, trying to place the sounds and where exactly they were in the house. He could hear the sounds of the goat’s hooves along with the strange metal clink, and he wondered who would let a goat in just to make him distracted.

 

Steve had no weapons on him, but he didn’t need them. Not really. He counted to ten in his head before jumping out of the bed, body ready for a fight.  A fight that would never come because the other thing in the hut besides himself was the goat. It didn’t even seem phased by Steve’s sudden movement, its upper body buried in a cabinet.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me...” Steve relaxed and ran a hand through his hair before approaching the goat. He spent enough time around Bucky’s goats that they knew him, thankfully. “Hey, get out of there!”

 

The goat jerked back then, letting Steve see clearing what caused the clinking. Instead of a front left leg was, instead, a metal prosthetic. It looked... but maybe it was normal? Maybe that’s why they were able to make Bucky a new arm so easily? He had never seen this goat, but perhaps it lost a leg during the battle. Or before the battle.

 

The goat nudged his head against Steve’s leg, and then went back to poking through the cabinets. Steve debating on telling it to leave or just going back to bed - bed won. He patted the goat’s back before heading back to the bed to sleep further.

 

The next time Steve woke, the goat was sleeping by his feet, soft snores coming from its nose. Steve let out a sigh and freed his feet before getting up to go about his day. Or, really, Bucky’s day. Feeding the various animals (not just goats) that surrounded the hut, moving bales of hay, fixing bits of the hut that the goats chew at. He understood now why Bucky wanted to stay here - it was comforting.

 

And the entire day, following behind him like a lost puppy, was the goat. The _clink_ and bleating never stopped, but it was more comforting than annoying. Steve found himself talking to it, telling it stories that came to mind about Bucky or Tony or one of the other Avengers. He was probably hallucinating, but sometimes it felt as if the goat _laughed_ at his bad jokes. Sometimes it would even bite at him if Steve went to do something it didn’t seem to like.

 

He probably just needed to sleep longer.

 

But as the days continued and the goat kept at his heel, Steve wondered if maybe there was something else going on. Curious, he motioned for the goat to follow him and the two went up to the palace. Without even hesitating, the goat followed him up the steps and right into Shuri’s lab. Before either of them could say anything, the goat trotted its way to the table that Steve always remembered as Bucky’s.

 

Shuri stared at both of them, tilted to the side to get a better look at the goat’s metal leg, then frowned. “Is this a joke?” she asked.

 

Confused, Steve took his usual chair. “No? He’s been following me since I went to the hut. I didn’t realize you guys did prosthetics for animals.”

 

“We don’t, but it’s a good idea.” Shuri knelt in front of the goat. “When did he show up?”

 

Steve frowned, trying to remember if he had seen the goat before or not. “The night everyone came back, I guess.”

 

“Hm.” She looked the goat over, biting at her lip.

 

Steve watched the goat while she did, then he burst out laughing. He got the attention of most people in the room, but he couldn’t hold back. Mostly because the thought that crossed his mind was so odd and, honestly, a little ridiculous.

 

“Do I want to ask?” Shuri stood, hand resting on the goat’s head.

 

Steve shook his head. “For a moment, I thought you were going to suggest that the goat was Bucky.”

 

The goat and Shuri shared a look before Shuri stepped closer to Steve. “Captain, I...”

 

The goat let out a loud bleat then. Steve looked in time to see it hop a few times and then stared him down. Steve tensed in his chair, not really sure what to think. Bucky being a goat was just a cosmic joke - something he didn’t even want to consider. But...

 

“You think it’s true.”

 

Shuri shrugged and knelt down again to look over the metal leg. “My brother and Barnes spoke often and openly. He seemed to enjoy the simple life the goats lead.”

 

“But... a _goat_?”

 

The goat nipped at Steve’s knee before butting it gently.

 

“Stranger things have happened,” Shuri told him, voice gentle. “My brother said that they were given a choice before returning.”

 

“A goat.”

 

“I think he deserves the peace.” Shuri stood again. “The leg looks fine, but I’d like to look at it in a week or so. See if it affected anything else.”

 

Steve couldn’t stop staring at the goat (at Bucky?). There weren’t any distinct markings on him that indicated he was Bucky, other than the metal leg, so was it possible?

 

“I think I’m just... going to go back to the hut,” he said after a long moment. “Sleep it off.”

 

“Of course, Captain.” Shuri offered a smile. “I’ll tell my brother to visit you. Perhaps he can help.”

 

“Perhaps,” Steve agreed. “Thank you.”

 

Shuri just nodded as Steve left, the goat trotting along behind him. It wasn’t, in fact, the weirdest situation Steve could remember being in. At this point, Shuri could tell him that the rest of the team turned into different animals and he would roll with it. After all, everything about his life and existence was strange - from his own super-soldier gift to, he supposed now, his best friend being a goat.

 

“I’m not bathing you,” Steve said as they made their way back to the hut. “You’re on your own with that.”

 

The goat’s answer was a swift knock against Steve’s ass that had him tumbling, laughing, down a hill. Once he stopped rolling, Steve looked up to see the goat still at the top, staring down at him with determination in his stance. Steve sat up and shook his head.

 

“Just for that, I’m feeding you the stale hay.”

 

The goat simply raised its tail and shit where he stood. Steve rolled his eyes and got up, brushing his pants off. If his best friend wanted to be a goat, who was he to judge? Wakanda wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t stay here, after all.

 

“Come on, pal. We got chores to do.”


End file.
